Sumit SinghalSumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

In summer 2011, we bathed for the first time in the newly finished sauna of Box. Box is a fishermen’s village located in south-western archipelago of Finland. We are working on the conversion of the former Box village school into a residence, and the first part of the project was to build a sauna into the school’s old storage and toilet building by the seashore.

The building was in rough condition, but it had a beautiful stone foundation and a strong wooden frame. Thus we decided to keep the exterior shape and opened it up by cutting a terrace through the volume, dividing the building into a sauna and a dressing room.

Image Courtesy Architects Rudanko + Kankkunen

The new surfaces by the terrace have a light wooden character, whereas the old exterior is painted dark blue to create a contrast between the two layers of the building’s story. We wanted to create a unique bathing experience, and we found the key to it in the old, elevated windows of the building.

Image Courtesy Architects Rudanko + Kankkunen

As we cut through the existing windows when making the terrace, we left a half in place and continued the glass around the corners all through the new walls. No columns were allowed to obstruct the view, so the top part of the wall was hung from the roof structure. A continuous window stripe was formed exactly on the eye level of the sauna bather: from the top bench, one can admire a magnificent panorama view of the sea.

Image Courtesy Architects Rudanko + Kankkunen

In the next phase of the project we will gradually convert the main school building into a residence. The work takes place step by step over several years, and the residents themselves are very engaged in the conversion work. It is rewarding to give a beautiful school a new life!